The Early November in, uh, early November

The Early November stopped by the AP offices yesterday, Nov. 2, to play a handful of new songs from their forthcoming triple-disc set, set for release next year on Drive-Thru. While we only heard versions of four songs (“Decoration,” “Best Song,” “Single” and “Hair”) the band have been road-testing on their recent tour with Saves The Day, Senses Fail and Emanuel, we can report that fans of TEN’s last album, The Room’s Too Cold, will likely, er, warm up to the driving, infectious pulse of the new album’s “Rock” disc – which, augmented by touches like piano, Fender Rhodes and trombone solos (!), has an almost Beatles-esque sound at times. The real highlight of our listen, however, was the 8:50 sampling we got of the set’s “Story” disc, a literal musical drama written by singer/guitarist Ace Enders and featuring a narrative, unprecedented (for TEN, that is) production depth, and real-live actors from around the band’s hometown in New Jersey. While the “acoustic” and “rock” discs are in the can, Enders, ever the perfectionist, says he’ll be working on the “story” disc throughout the remainder of the tour. We can’t wait to hear what he comes up with.

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Andy Biersack has returned with the second dark-pop chapter of his solo alter ego Andy Black, and man, is it an ambitious one. Last month, fans got a taste of what the Black-smith was crafting with the Bowie/Duran Duran-affected funk of “Westwood Road.” On The Ghost Of Ohio, Biersack widens his circle of influence from the aforementioned track to distinct classic-rock signifiers, percolating dance-rock and stentorian balladry.